Numerous studies point out serglycin as an important regulator of tumorigenesis in a variety of malignancies. Serglycin expression correlates with the aggressive phenotype of tumor cells and serves as a poor prognostic indicator for disease progression. Although serglycin is considered as an intracellular proteoglycan, it is also secreted in the extracellular matrix by tumor cells affecting cell properties, oncogenic signaling and exosomes cargo. Serglycin directly interacts with CD44 and possibly other cell surface receptors including integrins, evoking cell adhesion and signaling. Serglycin also creates a pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic tumor microenvironment by regulating the secretion of proteolytic enzymes, IL-8, TGFβ2, CCL2, VEGF and HGF. Hence, serglycin activates multiple signaling cascades that drive angiogenesis, tumor cell growth, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, cancer cell stemness and metastasis. The interference with the tumorigenic functions of serglycin emerges as an attractive prospect to target malignancies.

大量研究指出，糖精蛋白是多种恶性肿瘤中重要的肿瘤发生调节因子。Serglycin表达与肿瘤细胞的侵袭性表型相关，并作为疾病进展的不良预后指标。尽管血清甘油糖被认为是一种细胞内蛋白聚糖，但它也会被影响细胞特性，致癌信号和外泌体货物的肿瘤细胞分泌到细胞外基质中。Serglycin直接与CD44以及可能与其他细胞表面受体（包括整联蛋白）相互作用，从而引起细胞粘附和信号传导。通过调节蛋白水解酶IL-8，TGFβ2，CCL2，VEGF和HGF的分泌，Serglycin还可以创建促炎和促血管生成的肿瘤微环境。因此，Serglycin激活多个信号级联反应，从而驱动血管生成，肿瘤细胞生长，上皮到间质转化，癌细胞干和转移。干扰血凝素的致瘤功能的出现成为靶向恶性肿瘤的诱人前景。